There is so much noise about social media, much of it not very helpful. Myths about how and why to use these networks abound, spread by networking neophytes and so-called experts (like me) alike.

Heather Switaj's insight:

This article lists a few of the myths that businesses may believe to be true about social networking. I found the first and the last myths to stand out the most. The first one was that not everyone is on social media. In reality, social media is still growing and is not as popular and big as some companies lead you to believe. The last myth was that social media networking will replace physically networking. Some people believe that everything can be done virtually now without having to engage in human interaction. However, thats far from the truth. Social networking cannot replace the face to face interaction and bond that is recieved when networking physically to the public.

An expert in innovation strategy shares four keys to organizational innovation and growth in this Harvard professional development blog post.

Heather Switaj's insight:

This articles goes over 4 strategies in order for a company to excel and grow. One of a the tactics that is listed is "think like a designer." This caught my eye because I am a designer so I found it interesting that managers are being taught to think creatively and openly, going back to Porters Five Forces Anaylsis that many companies have abandoned. This is just one example why Apple is so successful at what they do. They built their company around design, and design is important to them. Therefore, everyone in the company thinks like a designer and has enables the ability to continue growth within the company.

If everyone was just like me, the entire office would be made of Belgian chocolate and we'd watch movies all day, stopping only occasionally to nibble on the walls. Unfortunately, my workplace is...

Heather Switaj's insight:

In this article is discusses why emtion is acceptable in the workplace to a certain degree. It discusses the benefit of having emotions in the workplace and how it can create more of a bond between manager and employee. It touches on the extent of emotion in the workplace and covers emotional intelligence and why it is useful.

Only 24 weeks into her pregnancy, Haydee Ibarra's doctors told her that her baby wasn't getting the blood and oxygen she needed to survive. If she stayed inside the womb, the baby would certainly...

Heather Switaj's insight:

In this article, the doctors and the parents of the 9 ounce baby, Melinda, had to make a decision if they should try everything to keep the baby alive or give up. The baby was born so premature that as soon as she was pulled from her mothers whomb she was hooked up to tubes and machines in order to keep her alive. According to the guide, this action is legal. However, typically doctors across the nation will let babies die that are less than 400 grams, Melinda was only 270 grams. Their decision doesn't violate any company or professional standards. As a doctor, they take an othe to do whatever it takes to save the lives of their patients, and nothing is different when this patient is not even 9 ounces big. Those affected by this decision are the parents of the child, because obviously they will do whatever it takes it keep their baby girl alive; and the state, because the family is on Medi-Care and the state is paying for all the baby's medical bills. The doctor needs to take into consideration his moral ideals and if he can live with the fact that he did not do everything to try to save this newborn. The consequences from this decision would be that the baby may not even live, or could suffer life long health issues due to being so premature.

When Captain Chesley Sullenberger made the decision to land his doomed plane in the Hudson River, he didn’t have time to calculate his odds of success.

Heather Switaj's insight:

In this article it discusses heuristics and how people typically don't use them. Here they talked about a study that was done that tested how benefitial heuristics really is in a decision making situation. In an over crowded hospital, if they took the route of heuristics and answered three simple questions, it yielded a positive outcome and offered decision making more leeway to adapt new information.

Working in teams is a common part of the business environment and may be an approach companies take to certain tasks, responsibilities or special projects. While it can be challenging for different ...

Heather Switaj's insight:

In this article, it lists just a few advantages of group and team work in the workplace. Personally, I always found group work unproductive and stressful. I always felt not everyone would pull their weight which would result in a lot of animosity among the group. However, when reading these advantages it began to make me re-think my feelings and try to invision how the experience would have been if our jobs depended on it. "Accountability for weak areas" to me was one of the largest advantages of group/team work. In art, much, if not all, work is done in groups. This is because, some are more talented in different areas. Not every artist is techniqually sound and not all techniqual artists can bust out a detailed traditional drawing of a character. When working in a team, they can combine all these different talents in order to produce a successful ending product. Each artist can contribute their own talents, making sure weak areas have been accounted for and covered.

Credit: Rice University Baker Institute Most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that their primary motivation is to “change the world” and to build something lasting, not to make a lot of money.

Heather Switaj's insight:

In this article, the author discusses ways to motivate employees without the use of money and bonuses as incentives. He lists off 8 methods a leader can go about to encourage their employees to work hard and efficiently for them without paying them more to do so. My favorite on this list was "be a problem solver" because I think it gives the employee the control. With the assistance of the leader, the employee is given the challenge to come up with a resolution for the problem at hand, giving them power and making them feel important. I found the last point to be very important as well, "lead through experience and competence, not through title or position." When a leader goes out of their way to get their hands dirty in the work place, putting in time and engery just as they expect their employees to, adds to the respect they are given. If they just sit on their butts and boss people around every day they are not being leaders and doing nothing to motivate their employees, resulting in a lack of communication and respect for one another. When the leader takes the time to work with the employees, shedding some light on their daily tasks that they had expereicenced over their time, it builds up their relationship with their employees and breaks down the wall between boss and employee.

One big loss at the world's most popular smartphone platform has been followed by another. Five months after Android founder Andy Rubin left his creation to work on unspecified other projects...

Heather Switaj's insight:

I found it interesting that two of androids' most notable stars left shortly after one another to pursue other projects. Without two key leaders, one of which was their project manager, those who are promoted will have large shoes to fill. I just wonder how this will effect android and their success. Most of the times, people aren't fans of change, especially such a large change as this one.

Rockstar paid $4.5 billion for Nortel patents and has launched a major attack.

Heather Switaj's insight:

This article touches on one of the many "wars" going on in business. In this war, Rockstar Bidco; a combination of Microsoft, Apple, RIM, Ericsson, and Sony, has filed a lawsuit against google for violating 6 of their patents. When Nortel went bankrupt, they sold 6,000 of their patents at an auction, where google failed to purchase them and Rockstar Bidco claimed the patents. The 6 patents that google is being accused of violating all fall under the family of an associative search engine. These patents describe an advertisement machine which provides advertisements to a user searching for desired information within a data network.

In this article, the journalist is critising Apple's "mission statement" post Job's death. When I read the "mission statement" I understood where the journalist was coming from in their critisism. It is basically just a list of their product line and does not state what they are out to achieve. I found this interesting coming from a well rounded company such as Apple. For them to have such a poorly drafted mission statement is unlike them.

Many companies and organizations use personality testing to assess the characteristics and abilities of their current or future employees, the results of which are used for a variety of purposes. ...

Heather Switaj's insight:

This articles goes over three of the most popular types of personality testing that is used in the workplace. I can recall taking several integrity personality tests when applying for a part time job a few years back. When reading this article is mentions that companies were aloud to give lie detector tests up until 1988 where they shut down that operation, minus a few places that are still aloud to use that to test their applicants. At the end of this article it talks a little about the legal struggles companies face when using personality tests on their applicants. If a person feels that they are being discriminated in any sense via the test and they have evidence to prove it, they can serve a law suite against the company giving the test. Therefore, the company must be very general about the test and choose to give it either to every applicant or none.

The Ethics Resource Center reports that non-unionized employees perceive stronger ethical cultures within their organizations than their unionized counterparts. The non-profit organization also ...

Heather Switaj's insight:

Personally, I've found ethics to do important in everyday life as well as the workplace. So when coming upon this article, I enjoyed seeing what they felt the importance of ethics was, because everyone has their own opinion of why they are important or unimportant. The two I agreed with the most were "productivity and teamwork" and "decision-making." In productivity and teamwork it talks about how this allows for alignment between the companys goals and the goals of the workers. This alignment allows for the other point, decision-making, to be made easier and makes it easier to introduce change in the workplace which can typically be a challenging goal.

The ultimate goal of every for-profit business is to sell more products and services to bring in more revenue and generate more income for the owners. Small businesses often start by opening ...

Heather Switaj's insight:

In this artical it discusses a few advantages and disadvantages of being a multinational corporation. I found the disadvantage of laws to be the most intriguing. I never really thought about all the different laws that a company would have to deal with when outsourcing to other companies. Typically I just thought of the laws that delt with labor and the workforce, but the example that is stated suggests otherwise; that a company could have issues with using their brand symbol in outside companies. I never thought about the fact that a brand symbol can be valid and acceptable in one country and not in the next.

Effective teamwork depends on many things. At a minimum, it requires capable people working together cooperatively to achieve a common goal. According to author Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five...

Heather Switaj's insight:

In this article it discusses how to gain effective teamwork. The author lists steps that a team can take in order to make sure they get the best and most out of their other team members. He states that if teams hold one another accountable for their work then it will ensure they feel pressure to improve, or by avoiding excessive bureaucracy around performance management and corrective actions. If a team encourages group accountability, the relationship changes and enables others to feel more comfortable speaking up within in the group in regards to how they feel another member is performing. If the members just sit back and allow mediocrity and resentment to become the leading factor in their group, it results in failure and missed deadlines. As the manager, by them keeping the team focused on achieveing their goals as a team and not as an individual accomplishment, it allows the members to work and form teamwork. Accountability must be held by both an internal and external focus in order for it to be effective in a team atmosphere.

An organization I admire and Id like to work for is the Walt Disney Corporation. Based on this article and from personal experiences, Disney uses incentives to motivate their employees. In the article it talks about how Disney has an extensive rewards and recognization program that creates a supportive environment that encourages employee enthusiasim. For much employees seeking out jobs in this company, many have expectancy theory in mind, expecting to gain rewards for the work done; like free tickets, discounted goods, etc. But aside from these physical rewards, in the animation and art department at Disney, where Id like to be working in the future, they use creative freedom to encourage their employees as well. Letting them develop their ideas with not too much strain or guideance that would result in the crippling of their creativity.

Autocratic leadership is a form of management where one leader typically has complete control over a work area or project. In a small business environment, the owner may implement this form of ...

Heather Switaj's insight:

I found this article intriguing as it highlighted some of the advantages to having an autocratic approach in the work place. I always believed that democratic is the way to go; that people should have a say in the matter. However, after reading this I can understand and see a place for where the leader is the one making the decisions. Much of the work done in the past followed a model such as this, where the boss made the decisions and the employees did as they were told; working and producing products efficiently. Now as times have changed, employees have found their voice and plan to use it, pushing their leader into a position that takes them out of control. Although, the democratic approach is more efficient in a companies stand point, I feel the government could use a bit more of an authoritative approach. Simply because the world could use change, and because of peoples fear of change, anytime a proposal from the president is put into place, the supreme court finds a way to be indifferent on the view and make it non-n-void. I still think they should keep a heavy democratic approach but the leader, the president, should have a large say and control of what is happening under his reign. I mean thats why we nominated him as president, because we trusted him to lead our country.

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